Vatican’s message to circus workers

(April 15, 2011) The Vatican has felicitated circus workers and expressed the Church’s closeness with them saying they are integral to the human culture. Archbishop Antonio Maria Vegliò, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Workers sent a message on Friday to Urs Pilz, president of the World Circus Federation on the occasion of the second World Circus Day being observed on Saturday, April 16. The archbishop said he was rendering homage to all the circus artistes, workers and those engaged in the security of performers and spectators, stressing that the Church wants to make known the great contribution of circus as vital to human culture. He said the world congress on the pastoral care of the circus people that his office organized last December, is proof of the motherly solicitude of the Church for the world of circus that creates privileged spaces to break solitude and overcome anonymity in order to appreciate the beauty of games and shows, athletic and artistic exercises and revive hope bringing interior peace amidst suffering, anxiety and frustrations of life. The archbishop said the Church recognizes the social, cultural and pedagogical values of circuses that create extraordinary spaces for congregating, thus favouring socialization and help develop creativity and imagination He recalled late Pope John Paul II who said the greatness of this environment consists in “helping bloom the smile of a child and for a moment lighting up the desperate face of a person, and through the show and fun bring men closer to one another. Archbishop Veglio urged states and governments of their duty to protect the rights of circus people so that they feel themselves an integral part of society in every way.